


Goodbye Until Tomorrow

by deariemate



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst With A Side of Angst, F/M, Past Clexa - Freeform, Time Skips, artist!Clarke, but a happy ending i promise, sea mechanic is a thing and its beautiful, the last 5 years au, writer!bellamy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 15:49:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11405589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deariemate/pseuds/deariemate
Summary: It didn't take long for Clarke and Bellamy to fall for each other. But sometimes even the best of intentions go wrong, and a line has to be drawn. They have to make a choice: fight like hell for the one they loved, or run and never look back. [An au based on the musical film The Last Five Years], featuring artist!Clarke and writer!Bellamy.





	Goodbye Until Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will go back and forth between the past and present. Each chapter will contain a flashback and what is happening in present day. By the end, it will all come together. Mature content will come later. I hope you enjoy!

**[THEN] -** **Two years ago**

_ Octavia Blake _

_ 7:04 PM _

_ Party tonight at Lincoln’s place. He has a rooftop to watch the July 4th fireworks. 9PM.  _

 

Before Clarke could reply, her phone buzzed again. 

 

_ Octavia Blake _

_ 7:04 PM _

_ Don’t even think about saying no. I will come get you myself if I have to.  _

 

Clarke sighed and looked at the time. Another hour and her shift at Arkadia General Hospital would be over. Usually she would just head home - spending all day on her feet was exhausting and most of the time she wanted nothing more than to crash on her sofa with a glass of wine and some Netflix. But it was a holiday, and she hadn’t seen her friend Octavia in a while...finishing up a med school internship at a nationally renowned hospital didn’t exactly give her a lot of free time. However, she’d seen enough fireworks-related injuries that day and she didn’t exactly want to be involved in any more. But no matter which way she tried to spin it, her guilty conscious got the better of her, and after work she found herself going home to change into a dress instead of sweatpants. 

 

It was a cool night out, so Clarke opted to walk the few blocks to Lincoln’s place instead of taking a cab. It had rained earlier, and the reflections of the streetlights were shimmering on the ground all around her. It was nice, and the closer she got to Lincoln’s apartment building, the more excited she became to see her friends. She was glad she decided to come after all.

 

Moments later, as she rounded a street corner, a car came flying up the street behind her and took the turn fast, hitting a huge puddle of water and soaking her from head to toe. She stood there, shocked, and looked up just in time to see a car full of guys looking at her. The driver, a young guy with curly brown hair, slowed down but didn’t stop. Instead he just called out to her as he smiled,

 

“Sorry about that, princess!” 

 

The other guys in the car laughed, and then they were gone. 

 

“ _ Idiots _ ,” Clarke seethed as she attempted to wipe herself off, but it was no use. Her dress was soaked. Thankfully it was navy blue, so no one would be lucky enough to see her star spangled underwear she’d worn in honor of the holiday. She considered turning around and going back home, but she was almost at Lincoln’s place, and the fireworks would be starting soon. So she continued on, sopping wet and frustrated. 

 

She could hear music thumping and people laughing as she ascended the stairs to the roof. 

 

“Clarke, what the hell happened to you?” Octavia asked, holding back a laugh as Clarke stepped outside. 

 

“Just shut up and give me a drink.”

 

Octavia’s smile widened and she shouted over to a group of guys at the bar. “Sure thing. Hey, Bell! Make that two beers.”

 

Clarke looked over in time to see him - the guy from the car not minutes before. 

 

Her eyes narrowed on him, and he looked uneasy. She walked over to him and stood before him defiantly, poking a finger into his chest.  “You son of a bitch!”

 

Everyone turned to look, and the group of guys around him quickly recognized her. They began excitedly laughing amongst themselves, waiting to see what would happen.  

 

Bellamy set one of the beers down on the table and held up his hand between them to ease her. “Listen, I’m really sorry about that...uh-?”

 

“Clarke.”

 

“Clarke,” he repeats, grabbing the cup of beer again and handing it to her. “Sorry, Clarke - it was an accident.”

 

Clarke takes the cup out of his hand. “An accident, you say?”

 

Bellamy furrows his brow and then smiles at her smugly.  “Yeah. Happens all the time, princess. No need to berate me about it.” 

 

Clarke nodded to herself, took a sip of beer, and then promptly threw the rest of it in his face. 

 

The guys around him hollered and laughed, and even though Clarke could feel her face turning red, she stood her ground. 

 

He looked up at her and wiped his face in shock.  (She swore she could see a hint of a smile). She also noticed how many freckles he had, and how warm his brown eyes were, but she pushed the thoughts away as quickly as they came.

 

Clarke smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Oops, my bad. It was an _accident_.”

 

She took the other beer out of his hand and walked away then, back to where Octavia was standing. 

 

“Sorry about that,” Clarke says, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for making a scene at Lincoln’s party. 

 

“Oh, no need to apologize,” Octavia said. “That’s my brother, Bellamy. I’m sure he deserved it.”

 

Clarke nearly choked on her sip of beer. “That’s your brother? Shit.”

 

Clarke had known Octavia for a few years - they’d been roommates in college for a while. Octavia had mentioned that she had a brother, but Clarke had never met him. 

 

Octavia laughed. “Look, seriously, it’s okay. He’s a big boy, Clarke. He just moved here a few days ago, actually.”

 

“Oh,” Clarke mumbled. She looked over to him again. He was wiping his face and shirt off with a towel. One of his friends laughed at him and he playfully shoved him away. She felt kinda bad, but he had been a total asshole. Then again, getting a drink shoved in your face wasn’t exactly the kind of warm welcome he’d probably been expecting when he moved here. She supposed that she should probably apologize, seeing as he was Octavia’s brother, and this likely wouldn’t be the last time she saw him now that he lived here. 

 

Across the rooftop, Lincoln was handing out blankets and towels so people could sit and watch the fireworks. Clarke walked over and took one with a grateful smile. 

 

Lincoln stopped her before she walked away. “Hey, Clarke. I saw what happened earlier.”

 

Clarke felt a rush of guilt again. “Lincoln, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

 

“No, no,” he interrupted. “It’s okay. Bellamy can be an ass sometimes, but he’s a good guy deep down. Just...don’t write him off, that’s all I’m saying.” 

 

Clarke nodded in understanding and then made her way to a spot near the back of the roof, where there weren’t as many people. She laid out her blanket and took a seat, placing her hands behind herself and leaning back to look up into the sky. 

 

A figure enters her peripheral and she hears his voice. 

 

“This seat taken?”

 

She shook her head at him and turned to look back out at the city. He sat next to her and brought his knees towards his chest, draping his arms over them. He peeked at her over his arm before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes.   

 

She watched him as he lit the cigarette sitting loosely between his lips. He gestured to her as if to offer her one, but she declined. 

 

“You shouldn’t smoke, you’ll die of lung cancer.”

 

He smiled warmly at her before looking away.  “And here I thought you didn’t give a shit about me.”  

 

She laughed. “I’m sorry for throwing beer in your face.” 

 

He let out a puff of smoke and laughed to himself. “It’s okay. I was a jerk to you earlier.”

 

Clarke sat up straighter. “I mean, yeah, you definitely were. But I overreacted.”

 

“How about we just start over,” he suggested, holding his hand up for her to shake. “Bellamy Blake. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 

She smiled back and shook his hand. “Clarke Griffin.”

 

Clarke couldn’t tell if it was the fireworks that had started, or the feel of her hand in Bellamy’s, but she could feel her heart beating quicker in that moment. 

 

When the fireworks were over, he drove her home. They exchanged numbers and Clarke made her way inside her apartment, leaning back against the door with a sigh. 

 

What a night. 

 

Something in her made her think that her relationship with Bellamy Blake had only just begun. 

 

* * *

 

Over the next six months, Clarke and Bellamy became best friends. When Bellamy first moved to the city, Clarke showed him around on their days off and showed him all of her favorite spots: parks, places to eat, the cheapest place to get groceries, that sort of thing. He found a job at a coffee shop and in his spare time, he was either working on his goal of becoming a published author, or spending time with Clarke. 

 

He was falling for her, and fast. 

 

He couldn't help it - she was beautiful and feisty and so incredibly smart. He wanted more but he didn't know how to even start. It felt fragile, what they had, and he was enjoying her company so much that he didn't want to mess it up. 

He regularly visited her on lunch breaks at the hospital. They spent countless nights together at their respective apartments, with Octavia and Lincoln, and also Clarke’s friend Raven and her fiance Luna. Sometimes she would join Bellamy and his friends Miller, Monty, and Jasper at a bar for karaoke after work. 

 

He told her about his love of literature and writing - that’s why he’d moved to the city. Well that, and to be closer to his sister. They’d been apart for a long time while Octavia was in school, and they were the only family each other had left. He told her of how he never knew his father, and how their mother had passed away when Octavia was in middle school. He’d basically raised her on his own. Octavia had also failed to mention to Clarke that Bellamy had been the one paying for her to go to school. Octavia had a lot of great qualities, but her pride was not one of them. It did make Clarke look at Bellamy different from then on, though. She recognized herself in him. He was putting his sister first, always. And now he was trying to branch out and do something for himself. She admired him all the more for it.

 

She told him about her mother, and how she wanted to be an artist instead of a doctor. She told him about her father’s death a couple years prior, and about her ex-girlfriend Lexa. 

 

In that short time, she’d come to trust him more than anyone else in her life, and she’d be kidding herself if she said she wasn’t half in love with him already. But what they had was still so new - and with a past like hers, she didn’t want to mess it up. She didn’t want to lose another best friend. She thought that he didn’t feel the same way, but sometimes she would catch him looking at her from across a room, and then she wasn’t so sure. 

 

* * *

 

That December, Clarke was preparing to graduate from medical school and officially become a registered nurse. Part of her was excited to put school behind her and start a new phase of life, but another part of her was full of anxiety about the future. Her mother wasn’t much help. 

 

“Any news about grad school, honey?” Abby Griffin said as she waited for Clarke to change into her graduation outfit and robe. 

 

Clarke tried to keep composed. She was thankful she wasn’t in the same room as her mother so she wouldn’t see how hard she was rolling her eyes. “Nope, not yet.”

 

“You should have heard by now,” Abby remarked. “I’m sure you’ll get your acceptance letter soon. Then you’ll be well on your way to becoming the next Dr. Griffin.”

 

Clarke sighed to herself. She didn’t want to become a doctor. Yes, she was proficient in the medical field, but it didn’t really make her happy. She had always wanted to become an artist, but things changed, and she put her dream away for another time. She was 25 now, and considered that maybe it was time to pick her dream back up. But there was no way in hell she was going to tell her mother that. She wanted nothing more than to tell her she wasn’t interested in grad school, at least not for medicine, but she didn’t want to fight with her today. Today was supposed to be a good day, a celebration of all her hard work up to this point. 

 

She finished getting her outfit on - a lovely skin tight white dress that showed off her legs, and sat on the edge of her bed to put on her black high heels. Just then she heard the doorbell ring. 

 

“Bellamy!” she heard her mother exclaim from the hallway. “Nice to see you. Thanks again for offering to drive us. I didn’t want to chance taking a cab on a day like this.” 

 

“No problem, Mrs. Griffin. Is Clarke almost ready? We’re gonna be late.” 

 

Clarke emerged from her bedroom ready to go with her cap and gown draped over an arm. At the sight of her in the dress, Bellamy’s mouth fell open.  “Clarke, you look…”

 

Clarke blushed. “Thank you. You clean up nice, too.”

 

Bellamy smirked and smoothed out his nice suit jacket. “Gotta look nice for royalty.” 

 

Clarke walked up to him and he pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he mumbled into her hair, “proud of you, you know that?” 

 

Clarke nodded and held him tighter, never wanting to let go. 

 

* * *

 

**[NOW] - a year and a half later**

 

Bellamy wakes up, his eyes trying to focus. He’s in their apartment. He must have fallen asleep on the couch. The curtains are drawn and he can barely see anything. His cell phone sits idle on the coffee table in front of him. 

 

For a brief, beautiful moment, he doesn’t remember why he is there, and then reality hits him like a freight train. 

 

_ Clarke. Broke up. Gone.  _

 

He sits up with a sick feeling in his stomach. He desperately hopes that it was all just a bad dream, that his fiance and the love of his life would walk into the room any moment and everything would be fine. Things hadn’t been perfect lately, he knew this, but he never thought she would actually leave. 

He picks up his phone to check the time. The light from the screen hurt his eyes. He has a ton of missed calls and text messages from Octavia, Miller, and Lincoln, all checking to see if he was okay. 

 

So it was true. It definitely wasn’t a dream. 

 

Clarke was gone. 

 

He stands up quickly, almost too quickly - his vision blurs and dances and he has to steady himself. He flicks on the light and immediately sees it sitting on his writing desk - her emerald engagement ring, and a note with his name on it. He doesn’t remember hearing the door open that night - she must have slipped in quietly while he was asleep. He steels himself and picks up the letter, opening it carefully, the sight of her slanted handwriting making his heart beat faster. 

 

_ “Bellamy- _

 

_ I don’t know what’s going on with me, or you, or us. All I know is that I can’t do this anymore. I need a break. Some space to figure things out. I’m just so tired, Bell. Tired of fighting for someone who doesn’t fight for me...tired of feeling miserable more often than not.  _

 

_ I thought I knew what I wanted, but now I’m not so sure.  _

 

_ I’m sorry. Please understand.  _

 

_ Clarke” _

 

He feels his face flush with anger and tears begin to prick at his eyes. He spots the vase of flowers sitting on his desk and he picks it up without thinking, turning to hurl it at the wall. 

 

He screams as he throws it- a gutteral, aching thing - the vase crashing against the wall at a startling speed. His breathing is ragged and he can feel the sobs welling up within him. He collapses on the floor and lets it all out, sobbing until his stomach aches. He tries in vain to figure out what went wrong, why she left like this. He finishes crying, but he can’t move, and falls asleep right there on the floor. 

 

A little bit later, he wakes again to a still empty and dark apartment, his head throbbing. He gets up, cleans up the broken ceramic all over the floor, and then smokes a cigarette out on the fire escape. He hadn’t done that in a long time, not since he and Clarke started dating and she told him she didn’t like the taste of it. But fuck it, she wasn’t here, and he was upset. 

 

He finishes his cigarette and makes his way into their bedroom. Clarke’s wardrobe has been opened, and there are clothes lying all over the floor. She’d taken some of her stuff already. 

 

Bellamy sighs and rubs his eyes, exhaustion suddenly sinking into his shoulders. He can’t deal with this right now. 

  


He falls into bed and before he drifts to sleep, he speaks into the empty space around him. 

 

“Goodnight, Clarke.”

 

* * *

  


 Clarke is walking, to where she isn’t sure. Her suitcase is dragging behind her on the sidewalk, and she has half a mind to grab a cab to the airport and just fly away to the first place she can get a ticket. But she considers the fact that she could probably get fired from her job if she were to skip town, and what good would that do, now that she was on her own? She settles on calling the closest friend nearby. 

 

“Raven, it’s me. It’s done, I…” her voice catches, and she bites her lip to keep from sobbing. “I need a place to stay.” 

 

Clarke steps out of the cab and Raven welcomes her with open arms and a sympathetic smile that makes her gut churn. 

 

“I’m sorry, I know it’s late. I just couldn’t stay there-”

 

Raven cuts her off with a wave of her hand. “It’s no problem, Clarke. Come on in.”

 

A small greyhound dog jumps excitedly around Clarke as she enters the house. “Aww,” she laughs, “hey Finn!” 

 

“Hope you don’t mind him too much while you stay here,” Raven says. “He’s a snuggler, but he stinks.” 

 

Clarke kneels down to rub the dog’s head. The dog sits happily, waving its tail. Raven had adopted Finn after she’d gotten into that accident that permanently injured her leg. She walks with a brace now, and Finn became her support. At least until Luna came along. 

 

Raven orders takeout (Chinese, nothing like greasy chow mein to nurse a broken heart), and they talk about mundane things like work and house renovations. Clarke didn’t feel like talking about her pain just yet, and Raven respected that. Afterwards Raven makes up the couch for Clarke to sleep on, leaving out a glass of water for her and a flashlight. 

 

“A flashlight, really?” 

 

Raven smirks. “This is an old house, Griffin. The power goes out more often than I’d like to admit. One small breeze outside and this place is like a dungeon.”

 

“You’re an engineer,” Clarke remarks. “Just fix it yourself.”

 

“I would, but Luna won’t let me,” she sighs. “Some crap about historical integrity.”

 

“Hmm,” Clarke nods. “Well, thanks for this,” she says, gesturing to her makeshift bed on the couch.

 

“Seriously, Clarke, don’t worry about it. You know you’re always welcome here. I’ll get our spare room set up for you tomorrow, but for now this will have to do.”

 

“It’s fine,” Clarke answers. “It’s perfect. Really, thank you.” 

 

Raven hugs her and leaves the room, leaving Clarke to her thoughts. 

 

* * *

   


Luna arrives home from work late to find Clarke asleep on their couch. She finds Raven in the laundry room, washing the load of Clarke’s clothes from her suitcase. 

 

“What’s going on?” Luna asks, snaking an arm around Raven’s waist before nuzzling into her neck. 

 

“She left him, Luna. She says it’s over, but...I don’t know. She’s just not in a good place at the moment and she needed somewhere to stay, and I hope it doesn’t bother you-” 

 

“Hey, hey,” Luna says, interrupting her and turning Raven around to face her. “It’s perfectly alright. She can stay as long as she needs to. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Especially Clarke. I know you’ve been friends for a long time and I know how much she means to you.”

 

Raven smiles and sighs, giving Luna a soft kiss. “Thank you.”

 

Raven turned to finish the laundry. Luna smiled and said, “It’s raining outside. Did you leave her a flashlight?”

 

Raven chuckled. “Of course I did.”

 

Once Raven finishes moving the clothes to the dryer, Luna stretches out her hand. ”Ready for bed?” 

 

Raven smiles and takes it, letting her lead the way to the stairs. They hear a crack of thunder and she catches Clarke stir on the couch out of the corner of her eye, before turning over and seemingly going back to sleep. Raven squeezes Luna’s hand a little tighter, thankful that she doesn’t have to go to bed alone on a night like this. 

 

* * *

The sound of thunder startled Clarke and she wakes up, unsure for a moment about where she is. Her eyes focus on the furniture around her and the sleeping dog at her feet, and she realizes where she is. What she’s done. 

She sits up quickly and tries to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut. But as hard as she tries, she can’t keep the tears from coming. She brings her knees up to her chest and hides her face there, crying until she can’t anymore. She tries to keep it down, because she doesn’t want to wake Raven or Luna, not after they’ve been so kind to let her stay here. She didn’t want to cause them anymore trouble. 

She finishes crying and composes herself, wiping her face off with her t-shirt. She gulps down the glass of water Raven had left for her in one go, and then sighs. Finn had hopped off the couch and was now sitting at her feet whimpering. 

 

“I’m okay, bud,” she said, unconvincingly. 

 

She laid back down on the couch and patted the space next to her, and Finn jumped up to nestle in with her. She was grateful to have someone with her, even if it was just Raven’s silly dog. She didn’t want to be alone. 

Before she drifted to sleep, she said what she said every night at this time, like clockwork. 

 

“Goodnight, Bellamy.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Next update, you will get to see how Clarke and Bellamy first got together, and how they navigate this breakup.


End file.
